I host a daily public affairs radio show in San Francisco called Your Call. It airs from 11 am - noon PST on KALW 91.7 FM. I am also happy to report that I recently got a book deal with PoliPoint Press to write about my road trip through the heartland and the interviews I did with people about why they vote the way they do (or not). It's scheduled to be out in September.

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Paraplegic Iranian Paints Portrait of Virgin Mary

Hossein Nouri, a paraplegic painter, paints a portrait of the Virgin Mary in front of the Danish embassy during a protest over the publication of cartoons depicting Prophet Mohammad in several newspapers in Tehran February 13, 2006. (REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi)

Nouri lost the use of his voice, arms and legs to an injury in the Iraq war:

Metres away about 100 high school girls burned a Danish flag and chanted: "Death to Denmark."

It was one of the more curious juxtapositions in the continuing global confrontation over the blasphemous caricatures first published in a Danish newspaper last September.

Over the past several days, Muslim anger over the cartoons has boiled over with rock- and firebomb-throwing crowds attacking several Western embassies -- primarily those of Denmark and other European countries where the cartoons were recently reprinted.

Last week, nearly a dozen Afghan protesters were killed in a protest outside the main American base at Bagram, north of Kabul.

Nouri's painting depicted the Virgin -- a sacred symbol to Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians as well as Muslims -- looking down at a bouquet of flowers on a canvass that measured 110cm by 75cm.

"This is his answer to those who insulted Islam," said Nouri’'s wife, Zahra.

"It shows how the Iranian people respect others beliefs."

The artist supplements his government pension by selling his paintings.

Imagine if a Muslim wrote, "We win by liberating Americans from Christianity!"

Imagine? Are you kidding? There's several million Muslims who say that very thing every day. Actually it's a little harsher than that...

From the Qur'an:

"Kill them, and Allah will torment them by your hands. He will humiliate them and give you victory over them…" (Sura 9:14) "Fight those who believe not… even if they be People of the book [Christians and Jews] until they have willingly agreed to pay the Jizya tribute in recognition of their submissive state." (Sura 9:29)

"In London the protesters held signs reading "Freedom Go to Hell," "Exterminate Those Who Mock Islam," "Be Prepared for the Real Holocaust" and "Europe You Will Pay, Your 9/11 Is on the Way." In Copenhagen, an imam declared, "In the West, freedom of speech is sacred; to us, the prophet is sacred" - as if the two were necessarily opposed."